As someone who grew up picking berries from old-fashioned brambles, I can tell you this plant offers sweetness but can be true torture! Between the chiggers and the thorns, picking blackberries was something of a love-hate relationship. I loved the jelly and cobblers my mom made, but hated the bug bites and scratches that would be hounding me for a week or two after. Sometimes we love something so much we don’t realize it’s hurting us. Try to take time to evaluate your life for such a situation and see what you can do about it without destroying what you love. Blessings!
The Devil – Blackberry
Sweet berries, sharp brambles – beware; let awareness awaken the power of choice; break free of the desires that keep you trapped.
An old cast iron pan lies on top of a rust-colored napkin. Inside the pan is a blackberry pie with a carefully crafted lattice top. Blackberry brambles, brimming with fruit and flowers, surround the pie. A blue bowl is full of lush berries. Cinnamon spills onto the table. Measuring cups and spoons sit nearby.
Meaning: Knowing what keeps you bound can set you free. You may be feeling trapped by something you love. It feels good, yet you are depleted. Blackberries are delicious, but the vines strange everything in their path. Do not become ensnared by the sweet fruit o pleasure while ignoring your true needs. In “Sleeping Beauty” bramble creeps over the land, protecting the people while they slumber. Blackberry can be a safe but destructive hedge; consider what desires you are indulging. Are they keeping you from seeing the light? Be your own prince and cut them away. Wake up and choose transformation.
Crafting with the Devil
• Go foraging for wild blackberries. Delight in their sweet, delicious taste. Mind the thorns.
• Place a crown of blackberry vines on your altar to loosen yourself from the pursuit of adoration.
• Make a blackberry sugar scrub; invite release as you cleanse your body.
The Herbcrafter’s Tarot by author Latisha Guthrie and artist Joanna Powell Colbert
Parting the Mists 
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